Wednesday, November 30, 2016

"Mr. Trump has proposed a $20 billion federal voucher program that students could use to attend public or private schools," Jason L. Riley writes today in The Wall Street Journal ("Why Trump’s Education Pick Scares Unions").

But this idea presents similar hazards. Federal dollars will bring federal regulations, and reform-minded individuals like Betsy DeVos won’t forever be in charge of implementing them. Better to let the states lead on school choice. Now that Republicans control 33 governorships and both legislative chambers in 32 states, what’s stopping them?

Wednesday, November 23, 2016

"Will classical public charter schools lure Christian parents away from schools that acknowledge Christ as the center of all things?" Leigh Jones tackles that question in an excellent article in WORLD magazine.

"I met with my staff last week and they said they're further along in their curriculum than they've ever been," News9 quotes one principal as saying. "They're seeing students with better morale. They're excited to be there. Our attendance is up."

And in The Ada News, a Vanoss principal also says the four-day school week is a multi-faceted success.

Saturday, November 19, 2016

A new study is here, and a terrific Wall Street Journal editorial is here.

Key observation from the study: "School choice critics often argue that school choice siphons resources from public schools. But their logic paints school funding as a ratcheting wrench that works only one way ..."

Wednesday, November 16, 2016

Indiana businessman Fred Klipsch "worked with many of his peers to drive policy development and political action to defeat status-quo defenders," Fred Morgan, president and CEO of the State Chamber of Oklahoma, reminds us in a recent column. It's time for some Oklahoma business leaders to do likewise.

Sunday, November 13, 2016

Teacher pay is part of that conversation, but only one part. The public wants real reform as well. It's time to reduce administrative bloat. It's time to direct more money to the classroom. It's time to hold local districts responsible for mismanagement, such as over-testing that is almost entirely a product of local administrators and school boards, not state mandates. It's time to increase school choice and give parents more options, understanding that the closest school isn't automatically the best fit for every single child.

State Senator-elect Adam Pugh (R-Edmond) was recently quoted in the Edmond Sun as saying: "If you have got a teacher who has been teaching 20 years and they have a Ph.D. and a teacher who has been teaching two years—why should they get the same pay raise? ... Maybe the 20-year veteran deserves a $10,000 pay raise and the two-year teacher should get $2,000."

In the Sand Springs Leader, state Sen. Dan Newberry (R-Tulsa) also questioned the wisdom of giving the same pay raise to low-performing teachers as to high-performing teachers. "That might not be the best way to ensure dollars to the teachers. They should be rewarded based on ability," he said.

UPDATE: "[W]hen the Legislature convenes in February, it must find a way to invest more money in our teachers," Andrew Spiropoulos writes in The Journal Record. "But only lazy opportunists will settle for a plan that consists only of an across-the-board salary increase designed to look good in a press release." Spiropoulos has some specific pay-raise ideas here.

Saturday, November 12, 2016

Vouchers shift the balance of power toconsumers—who can vote with their feet.

"The most vindictive resentment," Isabel Paterson understood more than 70 years ago, "may be expected from the pedagogic profession for any suggestion that they should be dislodged from their dictatorial position."

That resentment was on full display this week. FOX 23 reported on an Owasso High School teacher who was disgusted with Tuesday's election results, especially with the fact that Oklahomans elected people to office who favor school vouchers. This teacher told his students that Oklahomans have elected “uninformed, ignorant, racist pieces of [bleep].”

It's not the only time we've seen some rather startling language from Oklahoma educators who either weren't coping well with the election results or who resent educational reform.

English teacher Jennifer Williams, who is tired of "f*ing platitudes," says "people are generally such selfish assholes that they rarely surprise me." And after the election of Mr. Trump, she is especially critical of white people: "White people are the deliberately blind, ignorant, deaf, tunnel-visioned voters. ... Actually, it's been awhile since I was offended by anyone other than white people. ... I'm so incensed by white women I could actually do harm. ... Jesus, White women. If you're really wanting equality, it ain't comin' from your White men. Why do we need to completely sh*t on women of other races? Do you realize how stupid you are? ... [W]e are such competitive and power-grubbing bitches ... Why can't White men release their death grip on their power and the government and the nation? ... Whites are sucking the life from America, denying our country any possible chance at greatness. No one and nothing can ever be great if you've stolen, murdered, pillaged, and raped to achieve power."

As we approach 2017, the taxpaying parents of 100,000 Oklahoma students, despite being compelled to pay for public education, have in effect said to public school officials: "Your product is sufficiently unattractive to us that you can't even give it away." Moreover, Oklahoma has enacted a private-school voucher program and a tax-credit scholarship program. And as we move ever closer to Rod Paige's vision of universal school choice—by expanding our current programs, enacting ESAs, providing for individual tax credits, and more—I suspect the vindictive resentment will grow.

What's especially disappointing is the hostility from some Oklahoma educators toward parents who want a faith-based education for their children. Rob Miller, for example, says: "If you are a parent who wants to use the Bible as your child’s Biology text, ESAs are for you." The online Oklahoma Education Journal posted a video with a similarly uninformed and uncharitable portrayal of Christ-centered education. The viewer will notice the unflattering setting and the mockery of "God’s Li’l Voucher School, Inc." which delivers "cutting-edge religious creation-science."

Happily, the vast majority of Oklahoma educators would never resort to vapid caricatures of private schools. (Indeed, 4 in 10 Oklahoma teachers would choose private or home education for their own children.) The vast majority of Oklahoma teachers would never refer to elected officials as "racist pieces of [bleep]." And that's good. Because parents want exemplary role models for their children, understanding full well that "a student is not above his teacher, but everyone who is fully trained will be like his teacher."

[This post has been updated to include colorful new quotes from Oklahoma educators.]

Friday, November 11, 2016

Researchers say there is no teacher shortage in Oklahoma. But the same cannot be said regarding the much-ballyhooed teacher caucus.

Sand Springs administrator Rob Miller, shocked and disappointed at Tuesday's election results, says "there is very little positive spin anyone can offer about the outcome of many House and Senate races, not to mention the demoralizing defeat of State Question 779 ..." Purcell superintendent Jason Midkiff was similarly disappointed by "the small group of Education Candidates to win." Retired teacher Claudia Swisher said they were "much smaller numbers than we’d hoped." Tulsa Union teacher Dallas Koehn was pleased by "the handful of winning edu-slators" on Tuesday. "But dozens of others went down in flames," he says. "Not even close in most cases."

"A disturbing social media video of several fights involving current and former Bartlesville High School and Bruin Academy students surfaced Tuesday night, causing concern among parents, students, and school administrators," the Bartlesville Examiner-Enterprisereports.

Thursday, November 10, 2016

FOX 23 reports on an Owasso High School teacher who was disgusted with Tuesday's election results, especially with the fact that Oklahomans would elect people to office who favor school vouchers. "Ridiculous," he said.

The teacher was unhappy that Oklahomans would "elect uninformed, ignorant, racist pieces of [bleep]."

I'm not sure what sort of reply I was then expecting from this teacher. Perhaps it was unrealistic to expect something along the lines of: "Good point. We have spent untold millions of dollars yet too often have failed at our most basic task—teaching a child to read. We have damaged countless lives, many of them unalterably. I hope parents and taxpayers can forgive us and give us another chance."

Alas, that's not what he said. Incredibly, this was his reply:

@SchoolChoiceOK I would be willing to bet they still had teachers that cared for and about them.

Wednesday, November 9, 2016

Three developments in the last week will add to the momentum for educational choice in Oklahoma.

First, additional choice supporters were elected to the state legislature last night. Read about each of them here. Of special note is the re-election of Dan Newberry, the Senate author of the state's most expansive private-school choice program. Newberry dispatched the retired education bureaucrat (and vocal ed-choice foe) Lloyd Snow.

In this year's legislative races, the Oklahoma Federation for Children Action Fund spent more than $210,000. This is sometimes referred to as "dark money," a scary-sounding phrase used (usually by people who disagree with the donors' electoral preferences) to describe healthy and important First Amendment activities. The phrase "dark money" is especially beloved of liberal journalists and members of Oklahoma's public education community, though I suspect enthusiasm for its usage has dampened of late. Which brings us to the second key development: Ed-choice foes Joy Hofmeister, Fount Holland, and a pair of former CCOSA and OEA officials were charged last week with felony counts. The indispensable Michael Bates has a summary here.

If you ever needed confirmation of Preston Doerflinger's observation that Hofmeister is a Democrat in Republican clothing (something I have long pointed out—here and here, for example), look no further than this affidavit. And don't miss this gem from GOP campaign consultant (and ed-choice foe) Fount Holland: "A little savvy would make OEA unstoppable. The question is are they for us, and can they be quiet and stomach our right wing rhetoric long enough to get what they really want; a pro education environment for our state." That quote perfectly encapsulates why Oklahoma's GOP supermajorities (75 to 26 in the House; 42 to 6 in the Senate) are not unalloyed good news.

Third, ed-choice supporters Donald Trump and Mike Pence were victorious last night. You may recall that Mr. Trump, noting that the existence of a public school monopoly should "set off antitrust alarm bells," is on record saying parents deserve more choices. "Education reformers call this school choice, charter schools, vouchers, even opportunity scholarships," he said. "I call it competition—the American way."

Indiana Gov. Mike Pence (center) is pictured in his office on November 16, 2015,with several Oklahomans who were on a school-reform fact-finding trip to Indiana.

Vice President-elect Pence also supports school choice, including vouchers and tax credits. "Let’s open more doors of opportunity to more Hoosier families by lifting the cap on the dollar amount that choice schools receive for students and raise the cap on the choice scholarship tax credit program," the Indiana governor said in last year's State of the State address. In a meeting in his office on November 16, 2015, Gov. Pence discussed education reform with several Oklahomans who were on a fact-finding trip to Indianapolis sponsored by the Oklahoma Educated Workforce Initiative and the Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs. Gov. Pence spoke openly about school choice, including education savings accounts. (Contrary to the claims of ed-choice foe Jadine Nollan, a state representative who says Gov. Pence advised Oklahoma lawmakers not to enact ESAs in a difficult budget year, what he actually said—as I and several others who were in the meeting can attest—is simply that it's more difficult to do it in a down budget year.)

In any case, it's becoming increasingly apparent that the education establishment's rearguard action to protect its monopoly cannot hold year after year. Oklahoma's political leaders, rather than continuing to penalize parents financially for raising their children in accordance with their consciences, will eventually enact and expand policies—vouchers, tax credits, ESAs, and more—which secure parental rights. As Oklahoma's GOP-controlled government considers education funding and teacher pay raises in 2017, let's hope they insist that the price for more funding is increased parental choice.

In other words, the Public Opinion Strategies poll—conducted by the pollster for Fount Holland and CCOSA and heavily publicized by Oklahoma's education establishment—is very much an outlier. Anyone refusing to acknowledge that fact is simply not being intellectually honest. Moreover, as the state's largest newspaper editorialized, "there's good reason to question the validity of the Public Opinion Strategies poll. As Bill Shapard, founder of SoonerPoll has noted, to believe the POS poll one must also believe Oklahomans are more liberal than residents of heavily Democratic states. That's because polling has found nearly seven out of 10 voters in New Jersey and two out of three voters in New York support school vouchers. In neighboring Arkansas, six out of 10 voters support school vouchers, while in Kansas 57 percent of voters support the proposal and in Texas 66 percent support creating an ESA-style program. Shapard wrote that it is 'a very hard sell to say that Oklahomans, in such a red state that's demographically similar to the surrounding states of Texas, Kansas, or Arkansas, would be so contrary to all of these polls.'"

Like the film critic Pauline Kael, who couldn't understand how Nixon beat McGovern (given that everyone she knew had voted for McGovern), many in the public education community’s epistemic bubble simply cannot come to terms with the reality that most Oklahomans favor educational choice. It must be nothing short of bewildering for them that popular elected officials such as James Lankford, Mary Fallin, Todd Lamb, Scott Pruitt, and others—principled leaders, to be sure, but leaders who aren’t in the habit of being unaware or defiant of public opinion—are such strong proponents of school choice.

Wednesday, November 2, 2016

Midwest City-Del City Public Schools, Norman Public Schools, and other school districts are squandering Oklahoma taxpayers' hard-earned dollars every year by paying exorbitant fees for financial advisers, bond counsel, and underwriters, The Oklahomanreports.

Educational Choice in a Nutshell

The end goal of “public education” is an educated public. There are many different means to an end. Educational choice refers to any policy that allows parents to choose the safest and best schools for their children, whether those schools are government-operated or privately operated.

In a free society, the government rightly defers to parents when it comes to raising their children. And since education is simply a subset of parenting, the government should defer to parents when it comes to educating their children. Parents, not government officials, have the moral right to determine their child’s path.

Comments Policy

The views expressed in these posts are those of the bloggers and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of any institution. The goal of this blog is to create an open discussion about education reform (most notably parental choice) in Oklahoma. All feedback is welcome as long as it includes the commenter's name and doesn't violate the common rules of netiquette.